Join us on Wednesday, October 11th for a Lecture with Bert Upson. He will be sharing his experiences in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and details about first responders and more. The lecture will begin at 6:30 p.m. in The Learning Center (TLC).

Palm Desert resident Bert Upson was on the 78th floor of the South Tower when the first terrorist-piloted commercial aircraft crashed into the North Tower. A human resources consultant at the time, he was preparing to present a leadership training seminar titled “How to Invent Your Future and Reinvent Yourself” to a group of financial management executives. As an Army Veteran and as a survivor of the the Mobile Oil Building bombing in New York City in 1977 by a Puerto Rican paramilitary organization, he knew something was seriously wrong and that he and others needed to get out of the World Trade Center South Tower as soon as possible. Knowing from his previous experience that taking the stairs takes too long (he was on the 39th floor in the Mobile Oil building), he got onto the elevator and exited onto the street within seconds of United Airlines Flight 175 smashing into the South Tower—between the 77th and 85th floors—at 9:03 a.m., just 17 minutes after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. The conference room where he had been preparing to give his presentation had been obliterated.

Hear Bert Upson's story and learn more about this tragic event in American history and why we must never forget. His book On A Clear Day: 9/11—An Eyewitness Account was published in 2012 and will be available for purchase at the event.